IMR Press / FBL / Volume 14 / Issue 9 / DOI: 10.2741/3455

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article

Bioengineered corneas for transplantation and in vitro toxicology

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1 University of Ottawa Eye Inst, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L6, Canada
2 Dept. of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Univ. of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada
3 Taipei Eye Center, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
4 Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Ottawa, 150 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa ON, K1N 6N5, Canada
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2009, 14(9), 3326–3337; https://doi.org/10.2741/3455
Published: 1 January 2009
Abstract

Bioengineered corneas have been designed to replace partial or the full-thickness of defective corneas, as an alternative to using donor tissues. They range from prosthetic devices that solely address replacement of the cornea's function, to tissue engineered hydrogels that permit regeneration of host tissues. In cases where corneal stem cells have been depleted by injury or disease, most frequently involving the superficial epithelium, tissue engineered lamellar implants reconstructed with stem cells have been transplanted. In situ methods using ultraviolet A (UVA) crosslinking have also been developed to strengthen weakened corneas. In addition to the clinical need, bioengineered corneas are also rapidly gaining importance in the area of in vitro toxicology, as alternatives to animal testing. More complex, fully innervated, physiologically active, three-dimensional organotypic models are also being tested.

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